On Our Way

My organization, the National Museum of Civil War Medicine (NMCWM), has finally signed an operating agreement with the General Services Administration (GSA) to operate a museum in Washington at Miss Clara Barton’s former living space and office (CBMSO).  Last week on April 12, 2012 we held a formal announcement for the press regarding the future opening of the museum and it was a huge success, being picked up by the Associated Press and consequently several news organizations covering the U.S. from coast to coast.  April 12th was also the centennial of Barton’s death and I believe the interest in a museum covering her Civil War work shows positive evidence that her legacy is very much alive.  To start things off, we need to raise about five million in funding to complete research, exhibits and programming, and to have a nice endowment to protect the museum in lean times.

Today, April 16th, I am in Washington DC to attend another open house for the newly revived Carnagie Library, a few blocks north of my new office.  We don’t have phone or internet service at the CBMSO yet, so I am sitting in the Starbucks on the corner of 7th and E Street NW working.  Washington is a bustling city and being a little less than two blocks north of the National Archives, the city streets are busy as tourists, government officials and employees travel around the historic city.  Just to my right (as I look out the window of Starbucks) is the former Post Office, currently the Hotel Monaco, wonderfully restored and enjoying successful reuse.  I can imagine that this place is much like the what Barton experienced when she lived here in the 1850s and 60s.  It was a business district then, with the Market just where the Archives are now.  Photos of the Market remind me of Faneuil Hall in Boston.  Too bad the nation went through a phase of destroying beautiful classically designed buildings in favor of plain box buildings lacking any kind of character whatsoever (although that does not describe the Archives building).  What were they thinking!

Today I will also travel down to the Archives to spend some time conducting research.  It is true that the Library of Congress possesses most of Barton’s records, but I’m looking for items previously unused or disguarded as unimportant.  The connections one may make from coincidental comments in what may be thought to be unrelated material is amazing.  There is so much to learn to develop interpretation for the “Welcome Center” we hope to open by Winter 2012.  Wish me luck, and look for discoveries of aspects of Barton’s life previously unnoticed I uncover as research moves forward…

Glen Tucker’s Legacy – Ignored

Over the past weekend, I received the latest edition of “Civil War Times” and happily found a reprint of one of Glenn Tucker’s article written for the magazine’s inaugural issue regarding James Longstreet and the Gettysburg controversy.  Unfortunately, pasted in the middle of the article was a retort from a nationally known academic historian regarding the article.  In it, the historian states that (paraphrasing) Longstreet was so bad at independent command he was not even comparable to “Stonewall” Jackson or Jubal Early.

To say I was profoundly disappointed is quite an understatement.  I have always admired this highly esteemed historian’s works, recommend them to others whenever possible, asked him to take me on as a distance student, and so on.  I am not sure when it happened, but it appears he has stopped researching or keeping up with the latest information in the realm of Civil War history.  I’m sure I’ll still recommend his works from time to time, but his credibility with me has been badly damaged, nigh irreparable.   There is now very credible evidence that much of that interpretation is incorrect (even Seven Pines is skewed to create a certain implication).

Certainly, people are entitled to their own opinion, but when it comes to reiterating bad history, I take exception.  It is not the historian’s job to label history or promote an agenda.  The public expects that information published is as accurate, trustworthy, and absent of deception by some underlying agenda or bias.  I know there has been plenty of bad history written in the past, full of both.  Why are historians still doing it?  How do we take advantage of learning as much as we can from history if it is a fantasy?  How can we expect to learn the right, best lessons from that?  How can anyone sleep at night after slandering a historical figure who cannot defend him/herself.  Why do these “historians” promote and protect each other?  There is a feel of scam in the air.

The American Civil War is one of the best and most profound examples of this problem.   Several published studies outline the problems with the Civil War’s history as it was initially written (and  now being perpetuated).  Bad sources have been exposed, their credibility utterly ruined, yet writers still use them!     I realize that change is hard on most people, but it still seems to me that the right things (truth) should prevail.  The United States, reunited for at least 145 years, is still feeling the ramifications of the Civil War, it seems to me, largely because we could not face the demons the war was fought over subconsciously.  It just seems so ludicrous that there are people in the South who still want to restart the war, and worse, closet (many with the door open) racists.  The hard-core “unreconstructed” rebels wrote a fantasy version of the war to make themselves feel better about losing, and romantics have been perpetuating it ever since.  This is all being written by a Southerner who fell for the romance until consuming enough credible primary material to know otherwise.

Therefore, here is a challenge to all the writers out there who produce a manuscript and feel that they can sell it as non-fiction.  Get credible sources and use them.  Stop perpetuating things that have been shown not to be true at all, or have been credibly thrown into question.  Historical fiction also sells books, and at least the public knows what they are buying.  Speaking of historical fiction, please stop using Shelby Foote’s books as quotable material.  He admitted that the work is not non-fiction, just his interpretation.  There are no notes, sources, or bibliography.  Get off the couch and do the homework, people.

I am not asking for an unobtainable goal, just real honesty in interpretation.

Part of this blog will be busting some of the myths focused on James Longstreet, so come back and catch up when you can.

Revived!

Wow, its been almost two years since I wrote a post for this forum!  I’ve been busy.  My work at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine as well as grad school has really put the pinch on my spare time.  One does need the basics — food and rest, to survive after all.  There is also my three children who need raising, with a hubby who is off on business trips sometimes every week.  Managing our teenage son, Pierce, is quite a challenge. 

My museum decided to pursue the opportunity to operate a museum at the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office (CBMSO) location on 7th Street in Washington DC.  I was named the project manager, and have been working in high gear since trying to negotiate an operating agreement with GSA and do some basic research to get an idea of who Barton was, and details about the Office.  As with most Civil War history, I have found that the material out there is not exactly within the same realm of reality that I have found reviewing the mass of material Barton left to remember her by.  She was an extraordinary woman in her day.  I will be posting much of the research I find fascinating here on this blog, so expect some impressive information about Barton, the War, and Washington DC.  Also, check out the NMCWM’s website (I am the coordinator, another sideline of mine at the Museum).  We have a section devoted to our future museum (CBMSO) site there, with photos of some of the artifacts found by GSA in the building.  I will be adding some of those here on the blog at some point. 

I’m still working on the biography of Longstreet as well as grad school.  It seems so inconceivable that Longstreet is still being vilified by people who continue to perpetuate Lost Cause mythology.  When will these people wake up?!  Look for posts exposing these propagandist’s assertions in the future as I vent my frustrations having to co-exist with those determined to make the Gone With the Wind version of the war fact.

For now, have a great day, enjoy the blog, post often and voice your opinion!

Clara Barton’s Office

Yesterday, I was fortunate to be a guest at Clara Barton’s Missing Soldier’s Office on 7th Street in Washington. The experience was extraordinary! The office, which is composed of the entire top floor of the building, was initially (one room) Miss Barton’s living quarters as an employee at the Patent Office, but by the end of the war was also her office. Today, it hasn’t been renovated since Miss Barton put up the last wallpaper, and being around 140 years ago, needs a little refreshing. The feelings visiting invoked in me as a history enthusiast are just about indescribable. Yes, I rattled (very gently, of course) the door knob to Room 9, all the while gloating that Miss Barton’s hand had also held and turned that very knob! I’m sure many out there a probably thinking “so….” but to me it is like a lifeline to the past–when one incredibly courageous and talented woman brought great relief to those who were laid low in service to their country, and to their families during our most trying moments as a nation. It is not possible to properly honor people like Clara Barton. Her good deeds should never be forgotten.

Hello world!

Howdy do?  I never thought I’d have a blog, but why not.  Please keep in mind if you decide to read and post (and PLEASE post), that I intend this blog to be casual.  I will not get into any citation wars.  I took the time to do that on The Longstreet Society’s message board and ended up spending too much time capturing citations and not enough time on the things I should’ve done.  If you must have a citation, by all means send me an email, but I will only state here and now that finding your answer, if it takes more than five minutes, will be a challenge for me.  You won’t find any gossip here regarding historical people and events.  Truth is very important to me.  I’ll try to get something to you in a reasonable time.  What are my qualifications, you wonder?  I have a BS in History from Excelsior College, and have read every word I can find on James Longstreet for the last 15 years.  There is a tremendous amount of material.  I am a member of Phi Theta Alpha, the Honor Society for historians.  Currently, I am the Director of Education for the Pry House Field Hospital Museum, a satillite of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, at Antietam National Battlefield.   I will be writing on Longstreet quite a bit, and grad school, and any deep (!) philosophical ponderances I may conjure up as I go along.  I certainly hope not to bore anyone.

Oh, one last thing.  You probably noticed my blog’s title is Reconstructed Rebel.  I think that sums me up fairly well.  Love the South and especially some of her more infamous characters, but Lost Cause mythologists BEWARE!  I don’t buy anything the Southern Historical Society or their Papers is selling.  It is propaganda, and not credible material for the most part.  The war ended 145 years ago, so let it go.